Investment Accountants

Investment is one term that has been greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. People now give all sorts of advice in the name of investment advice. I cringed the other when I heard someone telling his friend to patronize money doublers and wonder banks that are now resurfacing everyday. This is officially known as Ponzi scheme.

Investment is the action taken by an individuals or corporate bodies to add value to already controlled asset or resources. Notice the use of the word controlled. This implies that you must not be the owner of whatever resource you invest as your investment.

FORMS OF INVESTMENTS

Shares investment: shares are stocks of company held by the general public. It represents owners’ interest in a business entity. There are two broad types of shares; common shares and preferential shares. Those that owns shares I companies are called the shareholders. Investment in shares is one of the surest ways of hedging your resource against inflation and economic downturn. The reason is that investors would believe that management of companies’ factors in the general price level change into their business activities thereby retaining their purchasing power and this will in turn translate into corresponding increase in share prices.

Real estate investments: real estate is the phrase used to mean houses. People need building for varying purposes, but not all can build their own houses. This now creates an opportunity for investors to provide housing to those that cannot afford to build theirs. The process of providing housing to all those that cannot afford to build their own is known as real estate business. If done well, real estate business is one of the most profitable investments one can make.

Insurance investments: very many people don’t know that insurance is a form of investment. There is this thinking that insurance is only necessary for emergency sake and all that. If you are among those in this line of thinking, I will shock you today by telling that insurance is a form of investment that promises sure and reliable return while at the same time taking care of contingencies and unforeseen circumstances. Life insurance policy for instance yields interest that will all be given back to the policy holder if he or she outlived the insurance policy.

Business: business is the act of looking for what people need and taking steps to meet those needs is a profitable way and manner. Business is no doubt the best form of investment that anyone can make. The only problem is that people lack the needed skills to make their businesses work for. Business failures made people consider business as the riskiest form of investment. This is not true; business is a safe form of investment. All that you need to do is master the art of investing. There are lots of resources that one can use to hone his or her business skill.

Derivatives (options, swaps, etc): derivatives are not primarily a form of investment but, a necessary tool needed in any investment strategic plan. Derivatives acts as hedge to our investments and would therefore qualified to be called investments.

Bonds: bonds are form of investments in the form of security. Governments are the principal issuer of bonds. Corporate bodies also issue bond but is popularly known as debenture. People (corporations and high net worth individuals) invest in this kind of security for risk free returns. Risk free return is rewards that accrue to investor with reasonable certainty as regards returns.

CAVEATS OF INVESTMENTS

Beware of the activities of investment scammers: due to the fact that investment is important to our life and wellbeing, scammers have made it a point of duty to reap the general public off their hard earned money all in the name of investment. The golden rule is “if it is too good to be true, it probably is” fleeing as much as you can from any form of scheme that promises abnormal returns is the key to making secured investments. Investments should grow organically.

Carryout proper investment appraisal: investment appraisal is the act of x-raying business opportunity to establish its economic viable-ness before venturing into. You need to employ the service of professionals if you are not good in doing this.

Be sure of exist point before making investment: it is a good practice to see the exit point of an investment opportunity before committing your scarce resources to it. Any time you don’t see an exit root in any business opportunity, the most reasonable and wise thing to do is walk away from such opportunity.

Peoples mind needs to be cleared on what investments really are. One of the primary causes of the economic meltdown is the existence of toxic assets. Toxic assets are resources created to have value but did not have any value after all. A good example is the SPE (special purpose entity). Any resource controlled by you that does not have the prospect of adding value is not an asset.

Your living home for instance is not an investment, as obvious as this is, a lot of people still consider their living home as investments. This I know is one of the reasons why people struggle to make it financially. Your home does not bring in any cash flow except it is sold and until that happens; it still remains a liability and not an asset.

Now that you understand what investment is, all that you need to do is go out there and make exploit.

To the success of your investment!